My Lover, My Friend
by Stelena-Beautiful
Summary: When a strictly friends-with-benefits relationship suddenly becomes so much more ... Very AU Sam/Patrick. Enjoy, Samtrick fans!
1. Chapter 1

**My Lover, My Friend**

_Summary:_ Can You Really Fall in Love With Your Best Friend?! An AU Sam/Patrick fic.  
_Rating:_ NC-17  
_Background information:_

- This fic is obviously completely AU. Sam is 20 years old and has just dropped out of college. Patrick is 24 and is a bartender. They have been dating off-and-on for 2 years. They are each other's best friend and refuse to fall for each other but are they fighting too hard? Do they actually have deeper feelings for each other than either of them realizes or is willing to admit?  
- Sam's mother is Alexis. Alexis gave Sam up for adoption when she was born and Sam was raised in foster care for the first 12 years of her life. She kept the name she was given there. When Sam was 12, Alexis came looking for her and brought her back to Port Charles. Sam is still very resentful of her mother for giving her up in the first place and they are not close at all. Sam's father is unknown to her as Alexis never talks about him. Alexis is currently single; neither Molly nor Kristina exists. Nikolas is still Sam's cousin and he is the only family member that Sam really gets along with. He doesn't have Spencer, has never been married and only has eyes for Robin.

**Chapter 1: Their Quasi-Relationship**

Samantha "Sam" McCall walked into Kelly's diner followed by her on-and-off-again boyfriend Patrick Drake. They were currently "on" (as in together) but were both aware that they could easily set aside their relationship if another offer presented itself and neither were ever allowed to have hurt feelings over it (they had pinky sworn on that a long time ago).

They had an unconventional relationship. They spent a lot of time together and they cared about each other more than either was willing to admit, but they were not in love despite spending the past two years moving in and out of each other's lives. They occasionally went out on dates and often slept together (the sex was always highly enjoyable), but for the most part they just enjoyed spending time with each other (they teased and poked fun at each other constantly, watched "Punk'd" religiously and basically painted the town red whenever possible). They told each other things they would never dare tell anyone else.

Their "boyfriend and girlfriend" moments never lasted very long. They would break off the romantic side of their relationship due to either restlessness and/or an argument (there were quite a few of those due to the fact that they were both being extremely headstrong and stubborn). But they never quite severed the relationship entirely because they still hung around each other even when they were involved with other people (despite any qualms their lovers' of the moment might have about it). They were not cheaters by nature but were known to end other relationships quickly if they got it into their minds that they'd like to be "on" again.

It would be easy for someone to try and explain their relationship by simply labeling them "friends with benefits". But if another person (perhaps say Sam's therapist) really took the time to analyze their dynamic they might say that Sam and Patrick cared for one another deeply but that they were 1) entirely too co-dependent on each other and 2) were simply afraid to make a real commitment to anyone by playing it safe together. Naturally, Sam and Patrick, scoffed at the very idea that either one of them were afraid of anything.

They had met Sam's first semester at San Diego State University in California. She did not come to the college with an outstanding grade point average. Unless you considered a 2.7 "outstanding" – which most schools did not. But Sam had been insistent on going out to California after high school graduation (whether she attended a university or not). But Alexis Davis believed that any child of hers should have an education so she called in an old favor with the dean of admissions at SDSU and had Sam enrolled. Sam had despised the intrusion on her mother's part but eventually accepted it when Alexis put down her foot down and said she would not give Sam another dime if she didn't get into school right away. So Sam went to college and muddled through the courses while she found other extracurricular activities to pursue.

Sam had a roommate her first semester at the university who called herself DJ. Sam liked her well enough although DJ was extremely secretive and absolutely refused to ever divulge any information about herself – including what her initials stood for (Sam had always assumed it meant "Drunk Juvvie"). DJ loved partying and drinking in excess which happened to be two of Sam's favorite pastimes (much to the dismay of her mother). DJ soon introduced Sam to her crowd of friends - none of which attended school or had steady a job. However, they had made a career out of drinking and raising hell. One night, they had all crashed an exclusive, high society event with the sole intention of getting completely shit-faced.

Patrick happened to be working as a bartender at that party and took immediate notice of petite brunette in a short black skirt and bosom-hugging pink halter top. He struck up a conversation with Sam when she came over to request a martini. She thought he was attractive and seemed nice enough. When he asked if she wanted to come with him to his apartment, she had no qualms about saying "yes". Ever since that night, they had been connected in one way or another. Patrick had helped Sam clean up her act somewhat; had even helped her cut her ties to DJ and DJ's hedonistic counterparts. Patrick and Sam still had a lot of fun together though and that was what mattered most. They shared the mutual desire to never be involved in a completely committed or serious relationship. Marriage and family were definitely not in the cards for them.

XoXoXo

Now Patrick looked around, taking in the sights of the jukebox, the spic-and-span countertop, and the gingham curtains. "This place looks like the set of some 50's movie."

"It's probably been open that long," Sam said. "I think the owner must be like 800-years-old by now."

"Sam, do I really look that old?" Mike Corbin asked, walking over.

Sam smiled and gave him a brief hug. "Nah – not a day over 450."

Mike laughed. "You're still a joker I see." He looked over at Patrick. "Who is this, Sam?" He asked. Mike was very protective of Sam – almost like an uncle to her. One summer, Alexis had forced her to get a job and she had ended up busing tables at Kelly's. Mike had admired her spunk and spirit and had sort of taken her under his wing, worrying about her because she hung around a rough and tumble crowd – led by none other than his impetuous son, Michael Jr. (aka Sonny).

"Oh just some hitchhiker I picked up on the freeway," Sam answered with a totally straight face.

"Sam, do you know how dangerous that is?" Mike asked, face creased in concern as he looked at Patrick, trying to decide if he was a potential rapist or serial killer.

"It's okay, Mike. I told him if he tried to touch me again I'd break his pretty front teeth and he stopped," Sam said, trying to conceal a smirk.

"Sam!" Patrick snapped. "Will you shut the hell up?!"

Mike noticed the smirk on her face now. "You always were a kidder," he said. "Who is this really?"

Sam smiled. "A friend. His name is Patrick."

"Patrick, I'm Mike. It is nice to meet you. Sorry about the interrogation. You can never be too careful with this girl."

"It's okay," Patrick muttered, shooting Sam a withering look.

"Anyway, would you two each like a bowl of chili? It's on the house."

"Sounds good," Sam said, taking a seat at a corner table.

"Coming right up," he said.

Sam gave him a smile. "Thanks."

"Yeah thanks," Patrick said. When Mike had walked away he snapped at Sam, "Why do you pull that kind of crap all the time?"

"Because I can," she smiled.

"Bitch!"

"Asshole!" she shot back.

"Slut!" he returned.

"Manwhore!"

They broke out in laughter. "God you're annoying," he said.

"Right back at you, partner," she said.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Thanks for reading. Here's the next part!**_

**Chapter 2: To Do or Not to Do?**

Sam and Patrick were just shooting the shit at Kelly's, trying to avoid going to see Sam's mom and telling her the news that Sam had dropped out of college – for the second time. Alexis was sure to have a conniption – especially when she learned that her daughter had no intention of ever returning to school.

"Okay what about that one?" Sam asked, gesturing to a cute blonde who had just walked into the diner. "To do or not to do? That is the question."

Patrick nodded. "I would definitely tap that. She looks very _bendy._ She's probably a dancer. She has a leotard on under her skirt if I'm not mistaken so I'd say she's pretty limber and would be fun in bed," Patrick answered, taking a sip of his soda and grinning at Sam suggestively.

If a stranger were to overhear their conversation, that stranger would likely find a conversation such as this one between a couple completely absurd - or just downright creepy. But this was Sam and Patrick. This was their game; this way the way they played it. They simply did not operate like everyone else and never made any apologies for their behavior either. And since they said they were not in love with each other, why shouldn't they keep a continual eye out for other options?

"And that one?" Sam asked, nodding discreetly at a beautiful dark-skinned young woman who was flipping tracks on the jukebox.

Patrick. "Hmm … well she's got great taste. She chose the last song - 'Angel Baby' - and you know that song kicks ass. And she has a perfect face with like a nose that you could just kiss all day long... And her ass – oh her ass! Yum …"

"You're drooling, lover boy," Sam laughed and tossed a napkin at him. "Wipe the spit before you embarrass me anymore."

Patrick grinned and pushed away the napkin. "You asked."

"So then you would go after her?" Sam asked.

Patrick considered it for a moment and then answered "no".

"What?! You were just going on and on about her ass. Why wouldn't you want to sleep with her?"

"Because."

"Because what?" Sam asked.

Patrick pursed his full lips. "Because, Sam, she may have the booty as they say but she's got nothing to work with up top." He gestured to his own chest area. "Her boobs are smaller than the lumps of coal my grandma used to put in my stocking every Christmas when I was a kid."

Sam shook her head. "I never knew you were so picky. I didn't think breast size even mattered to you all that much. You always said if she could work with what she had …"

"Sam, if boob size didn't matter to me I probably never would have asked you out."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Sam demanded, instinctively crossing her arms over her tank top which revealed too much of her full breasts.

"I mean, that initially when a red-blooded male such as myself sees a woman they look her over from top to bottom. We like the boobs and you had 'em and I wanted them."

Sam wanted to slap the cocky ass expression of his face but settled for shooting him a dirty look. "Is that all you like about me – my boobs?"

"No you are a good cook too and always make my favorite kind of pasta on Punk'd night," Patrick answered with a smirk.

Sam glared at him. "Well don't even think you'll be getting my lasagna or a feel anytime soon. You are not touching these babies." She pointedly pulled her leather jacket tighter around her chest.

He scoffed. "You are acting like such a prude, Sam. You know we are going to be sharing a bed tonight and you will let me make my move."

Sam shook her head. "You are way too damn cocky, Patty Cakes. Not to mention delusional. If we stay at my mom's, she will never let us sleep in the same room. That wouldn't be ethical in her mind."

Patrick watched Sam's face take on a pinched, spiteful expression. "Why do you always sound so bitter whenever you talk about her?" Patrick asked, attempting to meet Sam's eyes even as she avoided his.

"You know why. She hates me."

"I highly doubt that, Sam," he said. "I know you two have problems but at least she tries to be there for you. That is more than I can say for my own dad."

"But she doesn't want to be there, Patrick. I'm just another one of her many obligations. Or maybe I'm just her puppet and she hates it when I try to have a mind of my own." Sam was thinking of how Alexis was going to react when Sam told her she had dropped out of school and had no intentions of going back. "She is going to freak about this school shit. But I don't really give a damn at this point."

In Sam's mind, Sam and school simply did not mix. She wasn't stupid – far from it – but she could just never get herself motivated enough to complete her assignments or sometimes even bother to show up for class. When she had observed her 2.7 grade point average drop quickly to a 2.1 in the past semester, she knew it was time to get out of there. Alexis would just have to accept it. Accept her.

And accept Patrick. That was going to be a real kicker for Alexis. She did know that Sam was "seeing" someone because her nephew Nikolas had told her so, but she had yet to be introduced to him and as upsetting as that was for Alexis, when she found out that Patrick was an unemployed bartender and a total and complete slacker too boot, she was going to freak out. Sam was avoiding that whole scene as long as she possibly could even though she didn't hate the idea of making Alexis a little crazy. It seemed justified considering she had given Sam up as a child and had allowed her to grow up in one terrible foster home after another where she was abused verbally, emotionally and otherwise on a daily basis. Even worse, upon claiming Sam, Alexis had immediately given her daughter the emotional brush off and still had the nerve to keep her daughter at an arms' distance as if she had never loved Sam at all.

From all that Patrick had heard and witnessed of that relationship (even having not met Alexis yet), he could easily see how much tension lay between the two women. In rare, quieter moments, Sam had told Patrick some things about her past and he had an idea about how difficult all this was for her no matter how hard she may try to deflect her feelings and act like a hardass. All he really felt he could do for her was try to keep her grounded and give her a shoulder to lean on. They leaned on each other actually. For all Sam's crises that Patrick had been there to support her through, she had supported him through just as many of his own.

Like the time when he was in a car accident and broke his shoulder and hip and she had stayed over at his house for days taking care of him even though her current squeeze had continually pitched a bitch about it. And how when all was said and done, she had dumped the prick because he didn't respect her relationship with Patrick.

But the moments he really felt connected to her happened when he awoke after having one of those old, familiar nightmares of seeing himself walk into an operating room and seeing his father standing over his dead mother with blood on his hands screaming _"I'm sorry; I'm so sorry …"_ And she would just reach out and hold him close for hours and make him coffee and tell him jokes and stories to cheer him up. Best of all, she had never judged him for being a grown man who still woke up shaking and sweating after having a recurring nightmare from his childhood. He was good to her and no matter how often she may bitch at him, in his mind, she was amazing to him. He never wanted to lose her.

But he was glad they were not in love with each other because that would complicate everything and after both of them had lived through a lifetime of complications already, they didn't need the drama. Patrick was content to be a free agent and Sam – thank god – was too. Sex and being buddy-buddy was fine but any further was just scary and they had drawn that line in the sand a long time ago. If either of them became tempted to fall in love with the other, they were supposed to be honest about it and then each of them would run for opposite sides of the globe.

XoXoXo

Patrick shook his head at Sam. "You do give a damn what she thinks or you never would have come back to this shitty town to tell her to her face that you are leaving school."

"I am trying to be courteous even if she can't be. I will gladly haul ass out of this town if she can't get over this and gets in my face about it the way she did last time. I hate her stupid soliloquies. 'Sam, school is good for you"; "Sam, you need structure"; "Sam, how are you going to support yourself and a family in the future?'. If she does that I'll be really pissed off. She goaded me into going back to school last time but this time I won't allow her to force her will on me."

Patrick grimaced. "Fine. Whatever you say although, of course, you know how I feel about this too."

"Yeah. You think I need to be in school too," Sam said. "You think I can't stay clean if I'm not spending every waking moment studying."

"You can – and will - stay clean because you're strong, but you do need something to fall back on, Sam. Even the dumbass ex-bartender knows that."

She chuckled. "I could be a bartender too. I read that a new 'Hooters' opened up across town and they are looking for chicks with big tits. And since you say mine are so large …"

Patrick pulled a face. "Don't even go there. The idea of some dirty old man grabbing your ass and staring down your shirt while you are serving him his chicken wings and bruski makes me kind of ill." He pointedly set down his spoonful of chili.

Sam grinned. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you were jealous, big guy." She actually kind of enjoyed the idea of Patrick being jealous over her but she wasn't going to overanalyze it - especially when he immediately shot down the suggestion.

He shook his head as he took a sip of his soda. "No. Not at all. You know I don't get jealous as a rule. I just think you could do a lot better than that."

"Okay what about a straight up topless bar then?" Sam teased, enjoying watching him squirm.

"Again, don't even bother going there because if you are looking for a reaction you are not going to get one."

"Oh yeah. Of course not. You face is all red because of the November humidity." She rolled eyes. "But you know if you are really jealous you can tell me. I promise not to hold it against you. "

He shook his head. "For the last time, Sam, I am not jealous! I don't roll that way. No girl has ever made me feel jealous and no girl ever will."

"Fine then," Sam said. "You are Mr. No Reaction. I get it; I get it. Damn." Why did she suddenly feel so pissed that Patrick appeared to not have any possessive feelings for her? Why should it bother her at all when they had agreed a long time ago that they would never have stupid little issues between them like this one? Why did she even care at all?

_Shake it off, Sammy,_ she told herself. _Obviously you're freaking out because you are going to see mommy dearest. Or maybe it's just the damn frost in the air. You must have forgotten how freaking cold winters are here in New York._

"Can we just go back to checking out beautiful people?" Patrick asked. "No more drama please."

"Okay … But this time you have to find some guys for me," Sam answered, attempting a half-hearted smile.

Patrick rolled his eyes at Sam and then turned to look around the restaurant. "Slim pickings for you today, Ms. Thing. All the men are either hairy old guys or prepubescent scrawny little things."

"No fair," she pouted.

"Oh wait," he said, looking up as the door opened. "Here comes someone closer to our age … And sweet! He's with a really cute girl …"

Sam twisted around in her seat to see who Patrick was talking about. Her mouth fell open in shock when her eyes landed on the faces of Robin Scorpio and Sam's own ex, Jason Quartermaine …


End file.
